Learning and growing together, through experience
If you’re looking for hands-on learning and real-world experience, look no further. Life lessons gained through experiential learning are paramount to the Trent experience. In fact, here at Trent, every student is guaranteed to have meaningful, purposeful, and recorded career-boosting learning opportunities that will contribute to your success as you enter the workforce. The best way to get experience is to go get experience.
Why is Experiential Learning important?
Experiential learning is a part of both the curricular and co-curricular life of Trent, and has been for many years. Students, community organizations, staff, and faculty work and grow together through these deep teaching and learning opportunities. This includes community service learning, community-based research, study abroad, placements, practica, internships, and more.
The benefits of experiential learning:
- Increased student engagement and academic success.
- Enhanced student employability on graduation
- Improved student retention
- New and strengthened community partnerships
- Robust and innovative undergraduate and graduate research programs
All of these experiential learning benefits contribute to Trent’s reputation as an innovative, high quality institution with strong student satisfaction and success rates.
- For-Credit Opportunities
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Opportunities include case studies, internships, lab work, placements, practica, and simulated workplace projects.
- Not-for-Credit Opportunities
- Opportunities include applied research, community service learning, co-op, creative opportunities, field experiences, and workplace projects.
- Co-Curricular Opportunities
- Opportunities include experiences undertaken not for credit. These include on-campus employment, involvement with student government, athletics, clubs and groups, or other campus organizations. Explore co-curricular opportunities on the Student Experience Portal
- Volunteering
- Volunteering is an excellent way to gain the skills and experiences you need to reach your career goals. Additionally, you can make a difference locally and globally by volunteering for a cause you believe in. We have partnered with Volunteer Peterborough to make looking for volunteer opportunities in the community easier. Visit volunteerpeterborough.ca to search for volunteer organizations, available opportunities, and upcoming events. Click here for a list of organizations that have recruited Trent students for volunteer opportunities.
Types of Experiential Learning
- Paid Co-op
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Trent offers 20+ competitive co-op streams in programs across the sciences, humanities and social sciences that allow students to gain valuable career experience through paid work terms. Learn More
- Trent Community Research Centre
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Did you know? Over the past 20 years, hundreds of students have made a significant contribution to the greater-Peterborough community by completing many successful projects.
Through the Trent Community Research Centre, students gain academic credit and experience by undertaking supervised research projects with local community organizations. In community-based research, the questions come from the community and, using credible research methods, community members, researchers, professors and students work collaboratively to find the answers.
Our students gain invaluable skills and experience that prepare them for graduate school and beyond. A wide array of applied research opportunities exist in the form of thesis, reading course, or community-based research.
Learn More - Community Service Learning
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Students work in partnership with a community-based organization to apply their disciplinary knowledge to address identified community needs or global issues. Many community service opportunities are available through the Trent Community Research Centre.
- Placements, Practica and Internships
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From Social Work to Forensic Science, Education to Nursing, Health Sciences to the School of the Environment, Trent students earn academic credit in a variety of settings throughout Ontario and beyond.
This includes internship opportunities in Business Administration throughout the Greater Peterborough and Durham Region as well as internships in Medical Sciences and Placement in Health Sciences, which allow students to prepare for careers in medical or applied health research, teaching, and med school - Field Experience
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Many programs at Trent have a field component, where students explore academic content in a purposeful way outside the classroom through field trips and/or field work in Canada or abroad.
Trent offers many field work opportunities on campus or in the local area, including the McLean Oliver Ecological Centre, the Trent University Nature Areas, the Trent Experimental Farm, the Trent Vegetable Garden and the Crime Scene House. - Workplace Projects
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Engage with a student to identify issues or opportunities and develop solutions or strategies to industry problems. (e.g., consulting projects)
How to Get Experience as a Trent Student
Note: Trent is committed to enhancing and expanding the range of experiential learning options available to students. However, all experiential learning opportunities must be evaluated for risk, cost of development and compliance with Occupational Health and Safety Act.
